The herbicides belonging to the class of chloracetanilides or of thiolcarbamates, are very useful compounds in the fight against plants infesting agarian cultivations.
Many of these herbicides exert, however, their toxic action also against certain useful cultivations such as for instance maize and sorghum and thus, not being selective, cannot be used for the weeding of said cultivations.
The availability of antidotes, that is, of compounds protecting the useful agrarian cultivations from the toxic action of said herbicides without at the same time reducing their herbicide action towards the infesting weeds, will allow the use of these herbicides also in the protection of those useful cultivations which otherwise would be damaged.
Among the main herbicides which prove phytotoxic for certain useful cultivations, there may be listed those belonging to the class of chloroacetanilides which comprises for instance: N-methoxymethyl-2,6-diethyl-chloroacetanilide (common name Alachlor), N-butoxymethyl-2,6-diethylchloroacetanilide (common name: "BUTACHLOR"), N-methoxyethyl-2-methyl-6-allyl-chloroacetanilide (reference item M8669) as well as the ones belonging to the class of the thiolcarbamates comprising, for example, N,N-diisopropyl-S-(2,3-dichloroallyl)-thiolcarbamate (common name: "DIALLATE"); N,N-diisopropyl-S-(2,3,3-trichloroallyl)-thiolcarbamate (common name "TRIALLATE"); N,N-diethyl-S-(4-chlorobenzyl)-thiolcarbamate (common name: "BENTHIOCARB"); N,N-dipropyl-S-ethyl-thiolcarbamate (common name: "EPTAM").
It is known that some compounds, belonging to different chemical classes, are capable of protecting useful cultivations from the toxic action exerted by herbicides. For instance, dichloroacetamides useful as antidotes have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,224 (Stauffer) or in U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,101 (Montedison S.p.A.); 2-chlorothiazoles disubstituted in position 4 and 5, useful as antidotes in the protection of sorghum cultivations, have been described in European Pat. No. 27,019 (Monsanto Co.).